The other jogo bonito

Nike might be telling you that soccer/football is the jogo bonito, but today, like most Thursdays, I took part in Brazil's other jogo bonito, capoeira.

The simple way of defining capoeira is "a Brazilian martial art" or some people say "dance-fighting", but really it's hard to define capoeira with words. After a year of classes, I'm still learning about what it is. You might have seen capoeira-inspired movements in movies (recently Catwoman or Ocean's 12), but as the Mestranda at the school I go to says, those moves alone are not capoeira. Capoeira is the combination of fighting, dancing, singing, clapping, instruments, tradition. It's the entire package.

The particular style of capoeira that I do is called abadá. I'm not sure how it compares to other styles yet as I haven't been to other schools (yet). Essentially the hour and a half class usally goes like this: 45 minutes of warmups and technique training, 10 minutes of ab and arm strength training, 10-20 minutes of couples work, and 10-20 minutes of the roda. It is an extremely thorough workout, and each time I leave feeling exhausted.

I've been taking these classes for a year now, and I try to go twice a week. Although it sounds odd, I think the thing I enjoy most about capoeira is that I am absolutely horrible at it. It tests me physically (I don't have the flexibility or strength needed), mentally (getting past that "maybe I'll just sit out the next 10 minutes..." phase each class), and socially (playing with strangers can be difficult). I am getting better, but not nearly as fast as the other people in class that go 3-4 times a week, or the people who came into the class with better physical preparation. But despite the difficulty, it's improving my physical strength, flexibility, and even my mental and social outlook on things. And on top of that, it can also just be a lot of fun. How often does a grown man get the chance to practice doing cartwheels? And how often do you see two people that are trying to kick eachother smiling or laughing when they are done?

The first tuesday of every month is a "fundamentals" class geared towards first-timers. Anyone wanna come out and join me?